Mental wellbeing

Positive mental wellbeing helps people feel more confident, energetic and able to take part in other activities. In fact, our evaluation of both the Wellbeing 1 and Wellbeing 2 programmes found a one third reduction in depressive symptoms amongst participants. Through our research, we’ve seen that a number of factors can improve an individual’s self-confidence including:

Social interaction, friendship, solidarity, support

Sense of progress through gaining new skills and knowledge

Sense of progress in physical health, fitness and eating.

Improving mental wellbeing and increasing self-confidence can support other elements of wellbeing too. For example, for those with mental health needs, improving mental wellbeing is an important first step to increase their personal and social wellbeing. This also helps them make changes to their diet and physical activity levels

What works

According to our learning, when creating a mental wellbeing project, it is important to consider the following:

Social interaction
Together with a routine, social interaction can help people feel more energetic and better about themselves.

Physical activity
Exercise can help improve mental wellbeing, and improved mental wellbeing can lead to increased physical activity. Gardening projects have been seen to be particularly good at sparking this cycle.

Learning new skillsProjects which teach new skills help increase participants’ self-esteem, and through this they are able to gain a sense of achievements.

Project ownershipProjects that transfer ownership and a sense of responsibility for the activities to their participants often have a strong impact. The sense of responsibility for activities can, in itself, be a cause of improved wellbeing.

Peer educatorsIt is important to train and support peer educators, and good projects identify leaders to continue the work in their school, workplaces and communities after the initial projects has finished.

Lived experienceTo help projects succeed, it is important to engage people with experience of mental health problems to help convey key messages and help to reduce stigma.